Earlier this Fall, I was lucky enough to received some fabric from Quilt Market from my friend Katie. I had done some graphic work for her and as a “thank you” she really spoiled me with a Fat Quarter set of Echo by Lotta Jansdotter as well as a little sample charm pack of Malka Dubrawsky’s upcoming fabric line for Moda, A Stitch in Color. I saw a bit of this fabric in person at Malka’s Improvisation Piecing class from the summer, and I’ve been excited about it every since.

I’m not sure if you have ever seen these little sample charm packs, but the squares are 2.5″. I knew I wanted to showcase the bold prints in this line, so I decided to make a simple patchwork quilt with several shades of off-white and tan from my fabric stash. This is another project that I thought I would finish in a couple hours but sewing 200+ tiny squares together accurately actually took longer than I thought!

For the quilting, I wanted to do something a bit in contrast to the horizontal and vertical rows and columns, so I decided to first quilt a diagonal line through all the squares. Then I added two more diagonal lines in the resulting empty diagonal sections, leaving every other section empty. I am thinking about hanging this on a tan wall in my house, so I bound it in off-white so it would not blend into the wall.

I went to the Arboretum again today for my photos. Winter is really taking it’s time to show up here in Chicago. I know I shouldn’t complain because a couple months from now I will be SO ready to be done with the cold and snow, but I will miss having a white Christmas if it doesn’t start snowing soon.

I’m so happy to share with you my latest quilt designed around Aneela Hoey’sLittle Apples fabric. To me, this quilt just feels like Fall. The colors of course – different shades of off-white and tan, the browns, greens, yellows and reds.

The Little Apples fabric in particular reminds me of going back to school, with the children reading books and playing together…the sweaters and scarves… I just love Fall.

I started this quilt by fussy cutting bits and pieces from Aneela’s fabric. I built a log cabin around those pieces in various coordinating fabrics from my stash. Every square was a different size. I then sashed them (off centered) in different shades of off-white and tan.

I added a strip of a red (a print from the Little Apples line) to the top and bottom. I really like the punch that gives the top of the quilt.

The back is a combination of prints from Aneela’s line. I quilted this in a meandering free motion style and bound it in a chocolate brown. The finished size is 36″ x 56″ (toddler bed sized) and it will be listed in my Etsy shop later today.

And, because she is just so cute, I have to include a picture of my little apple from the weekend.

Despite my continued “Multitasking“, I finished a quilt this week! I mentioned this quilt top last week. It has been in process (ahem, on the design wall) for maybe six months? I had initially planned for it to be as big as my original Off Centered Innocence quilt but I decided to face reality and time constraints and finish this one up as toddler sized. The pattern for this quilt is my Off Centered Squares pattern.

This quilt uses a variety of Moda cross weaves, combined with Kona white and a tan Essex linen. I have now quilted with a lot of different types of fabrics – cotton, linen, voile, double gauze, shot cottons, home dec, flannel…cross weaves have been my biggest challenge. They really like to stretch and shift. However, the end result was worth the stress. This is one very soft quilt.

The back of the quilt was made with left over cross weaves as well as some white and tan Kona cottons. I quilted it using a meandering free motion style and the binding is also a cross weave. It measures 36″ x 48″ and is listed in my shop!

For the last several weeks, Michele (Mishka) over at Quilting Gallery has been featuring a Celebrate Christmas blog party.

Each week three bloggers share tutorials for new quilt blocks. And today is my day! You can read my interview here. I’d like to welcome all the new visitors to my blog, I hope you enjoy my block, Starry Night.

This quilt block is a paper pieced. For those of you that participated in the Summer Sampler Series, you are old pros! If you are new to paper piecing, do not fear. First, I recommend reading through this tutorial and even making the sample block. It will really give you a basic understanding of paper piecing. And hopefully put your mind at ease. Second, I recommend reading through the entire tutorial for today’s block before starting. And finally, take your time making this one. We will be paper piecing 4 small blocks and then piecing those together. Ready? Let’s get started!

Starry Night Quilt Block Tutorial

Please note, all seams are 1/4″; Final block size 12.5″ unfinished
Reduce your stitch length so that the paper template will perforate easily. I used 1.5 stitch length.

Paper Piecing Templates
Print 4 of the Paper Piecing Template below. Be sure to print them at 100% and check the scale icon with a ruler before starting.

Prepare the templates. Cut the templates out around the seam allowance line.

Step 1. Cut your fabric. When cutting fabric for paper piecing, you will be cutting fabric that will be larger than needed. (You can save your scraps for later quilt squares.)

I recommend cutting 1 of each piece below, making a block, and ensuring it is enough fabric for your sewing style. Then you can make adjustments later for the rest of your blocks. These are the fabric sizes I used for my paper piecing.

Pattern Piece

1

Cut 4

5″ x 4″

2

Cut 4

5″ x 4″

3

Cut 4

5″ x 3″

4

Cut 4

5″ x 3″

5

Cut 4

10″ x 2″

6

Cut 4

7″ x 4″

Tip: I like to write the fabric color name I’m planning on the template pieces so I don’t get confused as I’m sewing. Yes, I’m easily confused.

Step 2: Take your fabric cut for Piece 1 and place it right side out on the back of your template, making sure to cover the entire template space 1. Pin into place.

Step 3: Take your fabric cut for Piece 2. Place it right side together to Piece 1 which you pinned into place in Step 2. Hold your template up to the light and make sure at least 1/4″ of the fabric overlaps into template space 2. This will probably feel backwards and wrong the first few times you do it. 🙂 Pin into place.

Step 4: Sew along the seam line on the template between pieces 1 and 2. Be sure to sew a bit into the seam allowance. I also like to backstitch at the beginning and end. Remove your pins.

Back:

Step 6: Turn your block over and trim the excess fabric from around the template.

Looking better already, right?

Step 7: Take your fabric cut for Piece 3. Place it right side together to Piece 1 which you have sewn into place. Hold your template up to the light and make sure at least 1/4″ of the fabric overlaps into template space 3. Pin into place.

Step 8: Sew along the seam line on the template remembering again to sew a bit into the seam allowance.

Step 9: Trim seam allowance.

Before:

After:

And press.

Step 10: Repeat the same process for Piece 4.

Turn your block over and trim the excess fabric from around the template again.

Step 11: Take your fabric cut for Piece 5. Place it right side together to Piece 3 and 4 which you have sewn into place. Hold your template up to the light and make sure at least 1/4″ of the fabric overlaps into template space 5. Pin into place.

Step 12: Once again, sew along seam line…

Trim…

and Press…

Step 13: Repeat for the final Piece 6. Line up…

Sew, press and trim the block to size:

Congratulations! You’ve made your first paper pieced block quadrant!

Step 14: Now repeat these steps for the remaining three templates.

**TIP: To achieve the look of my block, you will want to reverse the location of the blue fabrics on two of the four templates. **

Step 15: Once you have all four templates pieced, remove the paper from the back. This should perforate easily as long as you remembered to shorten your stitch length before sewing.

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Disclosures

I accept paid sponsor advertisements on this site. Occasionally, I receive fabric, notions and/or books in exchange for posting an honest review of these items. I will always state when I have received these items for free, and accepting these items will not prevent me from stating my honest opinion of them. This site also uses Accuquilt, Amazon, Annie's, Blitsy, Connecting Threads, Craftsy, CreativeBug LLC, CreativeLive, Cricut, C&T Publishing Inc., Leisure Arts Inc., Darn Good Yarn, Knit Picks, Patchwork Posse, Sulky of America, Inc., Taunton Press, and Thermoweb affiliate links.